Margraviate of Western Liguria
The Margraviate of Western Liguria ( Marca Liguria Occidentale ) was a political entity in northern Italy from the middle of the 10th century. Another name for this area is Marca Aleramica ("Aleramische Mark") after the first Marquis Aleram, Count of Vercelli . It comprised a narrow strip of land from Vercelli in the north via Montferrat down to Savona , which was considered to be the center of the county.
In 950 Berengar became king of Italy from Ivrea . At the beginning of the following year, he completed the reorganization of the military structures south of the Po , which his predecessor Hugo I had started with the aim of being better equipped against attacks by the Saracens from the sea. He created three new territories for which he appointed margraves with loyal followers from the very beginning:
- The Marca Liguriae Orientalis (Eastern Liguria), which he gave to Oberto von Luni , the progenitor of the Longobard Obertenghi and named after him also Marca Obertengha,
- The Marca Liguriae Occidentalis (Western Ligures), which joined in the West, and which he gave Aleram, the progenitor of the Franconian Aleramides , as well
- The Marca di Torino , which lay further to the west, and which he gave to Arduin Glaber, Count of Auriate , the head of the Franconian Arduine ; this margravate also bore the name of Marca Arduinica after him.
The area north of the Po (with the exception of the area around Vercelli) remained as a reduced Margraviate Ivrea (or Marca Anscarica - after another name for the now ruling House of Burgundy-Ivrea ).
The margrave title was soon borne by all members of the Alerams family, but the margraviate itself was not permanent. Above all, the family retained the center of the margravate, the Montferrat , which was to become one of the most famous margravates in Italy.
The Margraviate of Saluzzo , which later also belonged to the Aleramides, was not part of the Marca Aleramica, but the Margrave of Turin. Here, scattered property of the Aleramides was combined with the inheritance of a daughter of the Turin margrave, from which the independent margraviate Saluzzo developed, while Turin went to the House of Savoy .
literature
- Giuseppe Sergi: I confini del potere. Marche e signorie fra due regni medievali (= Biblioteca Studio 17). Einaudi, Torino 1995, ISBN 88-06-13058-7 .